The Smell of Failure
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day one hundred and fifty-three: SYLVESTERS #3 Brittany participates in some of the Cheerios schemes, but not all...


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle, and then a third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh cycle. Now here's cycle 8!_

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**"The Smell of Failure"  
Sue & Brittany  
Sequel to "The Sylvesters" & "With My Little Eye"**

Quinn and Santana didn't always include her in everything they did, didn't keep her in the loop. It never really bothered her. Most of the times she wouldn't even realize this was what was happening.

Either way, being in Glee Club was keeping her busy, entertained, and maybe a little confused. She didn't know what to expect from Mr. Schuester and the rest of them. It was an understatement to say this was a different environment from what she was used to with her mother and the Cheerios.

She was used to feeling on the edge, but in Glee she was nice and safe away from the edge. It would just take her a while to get used to this pace.

Besides, it did have other advantages. She and her mother would share in all that was happening. It gave them something to talk about, more so than usual. For instance, she told him about how they had decided to reach out to Dakota Stanley. Her mother had gotten that look on her face, the one Brittany knew meant that she knew more than she was letting on, which generally made her happy.

So off they went to Carmel High. Neither Quinn or Santana said anything the whole way, so Brittany just looked out the window… she liked it better this way.

When they sat in the auditorium, part of her was with her fellow Cheerios and the plan as put in place by her mother. The rest of the club looked nervous, which only helped toward what they were trying to achieve.

At the same time, she was looking at those people on stage. It did look as much fun as she had believed it to be since her audition. In some aspects it wasn't that different from cheerleading, right down to the screaming. The little man on stage could make people hop to, in ways that would make her mother and her trusty bullhorn proud. It only made her smirk more. The new problem now was only how they were supposed to pay to get the small screaming man to come and help them.

So there had come the idea for the car wash. It wasn't the first time they had one. The whole squad was there, along with her mother. It was possible there was something in her eyes like she wished she'd put on a shirt…

Finally they had gotten Dakota Stanley. But as fast as he'd come, he was gone after just a few minutes. He had marched right out of McKinley, in as unquiet of an outrage as was to be expected. One minute later, Brittany's phone chirped, and she saw who it was.

"I have to go," she told the others simply, before heading to her mother's office. She knocked and was called in. She sat across from her coach and mother, waiting.

"I heard a ruckus before. Now imagine my surprise to find none other than the highly praised Dakota Stanley snitting out of here. What happened in there?" Brittany hesitated at first, though she could feel her mother's eyes on her.

"Rachel… fired him." Sue sighed, shaking her head.

"She's going to be as much of a problem as Schuester."

"He wasn't there," Brittany chimed in.

"Of course he wasn't, he's busy with his Backstreet Bozoes," Sue shook her head to herself before looking back to her daughter. "So what about everything else, pulling the club apart?"

"I don't know, I wasn't…" she started, but seeing the look on her mother's face, she shook her head after a moment. She closed her eyes, breathing out.

"Don't apologize now," she told her, her voice indicating she didn't need to.

"Okay," she nodded, unsure whether she was supposed to leave.

"Just get on home, alright?" Brittany started to get up. "Wait." She stopped. "Whatever punishment I end up passing on the other two, I'll have to give you too." Brittany pouted for a moment. "Go on. And send Quinn and Santana this way?" Brittany nodded and headed back to the Glee room.

After she got them to step out, she watched them go, and was about to go on her way, but she looked back inside, at the others. Soon they'd be hard at work once again, with Mr. Schuester… and so would she.

They'd failed in what her mother had wanted them to do, but still she knew she didn't want to punish her and would only do it because she had to… their big damned secret, once again. At the same time, she wanted her mother to know she could depend on her. She knew it would hurt Glee Club if she did though… she hadn't yet figured out how to make every one of them happy.

THE END


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